October 15, 2016

It has been over a week since I last posed, but this past week has kept me very busy and mostly away from any wifi to allow me to post much of anything. So here we are with the 8 day update…

Saturday (Oct 8) I got up and went to the market to keep myself from sleeping in too late… enjoyed a baguette and a morning stroll around Apt. Upon returning to Lacoste, I ate brunch, did some laundry, helped Kiele with her shoot, cleaned up my room a bit, sewed the hole in my jeans (spoiler: they ripped again, for a third time), did some writing/homework, figured out the Paris schedule, went to dinner, and then went out to the quarry to shoot some night pictures (stars and light painting)

Sunday (Oct 9) began with a sunrise shoot with Rachael and Steph… we explored the french countryside as the sun came up over the mountain… then Rachael and I went to workout before brunch, then shower, and powering through some homework before dinner, facetime with megan, packing and showering and getting ready for an early morning trip to Paris…! (following shots by Rachael, edits by me)

Monday (Oct 10) up bright and early for breakfast, carrying our bags down the hill and getting on the bus to leave by 7:15… After an hour bus ride, three hour train ride, and 40 minute walk to the hotel, our journey to Paris was finished, little did we know it was only the beginning. After dropping off our bags in our rooms, taking a quick rest, and gathering our things, we headed out to walk around Paris. We began walking towards the photo/film developing lab in the 3rd arrondissement, stopped in there for Rachael and Kiele to drop off their film, walked to a coffee shop and sat in the park (Place des Vosges) to chat and drink our cappuccinos… We wandered around that area doing some shopping and exploring until it started to rain, and then stopped in a café for dinner. After dinner we walked back to the hotel, over the river, past the beautiful Notre Dame, and crashed in our beds to pass out.

Tuesday was our first full day in Paris and it began with a morning walk to Boneshaker to get fresh donuts :) glazed and pumpkin cake donuts were the perfect way to start the day before walking to Musée d’Orsay to search furiously for our Art History professor (we are required to meet with him on each required field trip/museum and listen to a lecture in order to not be counted absent), and then look around the museum. After rejoining with the rest of the group, Kiele, Rachael, Steph and Sophie all went to pick up the developed film from the day before and Spencer and I went for a walk… We walked out through the Tuileries, down the Champs Élysées, stopped in a pub for some quick lunch before we climbed up to the top of L’Arc de Triomphe, snapped a few pictures, ran back down, hopped on a metro, and got back to the hotel so Spencer could go to the art store with the painting professor. I stayed at the hotel to nap for a little while, and eventually the troops rallied and we headed out to a gallery exhibition by Chad Moore and to a delicious french dinner outside at a café.

Wednesday Rachael and I started the day early with a WOD at the crossfit box called Original Addicts II, the gym was super cute and the coach was really nice and let us drop in for free. We stopped for breakfast afterward around the corner where the woman who served us asked us if we just came from “sport”, immediately gave us glasses of water and told us “it’s important to drink water after sport”… (much appreciated café woman, she was one of the only french servers who understood how much water Rachael and I are typically used to drinking). We ran back to shower and then skipped over to Centre Pompidou for todays required field trip. After about three hours of looking around, we descended the escalator tube, and found our way to lunch. Thanks to the wonderful recommendation from Megan, we all ordered duck confit at Bistrot Victoires, and felt infinitely more french afterwards. Lunch recharged our batteries and our next stop was Musée de L’Orangerie to admire the beautiful Monet paintings…. from there we stopped at Ladurée for macaroons, walked down the Champs Élysées, stopped in the Nike store so Rachael could buy sneakers to soothe her aching feet, climbed (again) to the top of L’Arc de Triomphe, back down, picked up sandwiches and metro’d to the Eiffel Tower to sit in the grass, eat sandwiches and macaroons, and watch the sparkling tower :)

Thursday was our last full day in Paris… 9:00am call to walk together to the Louvre and walk around the most intimidating museum in the world… We left at around 1:00 to find our way to the Galerie Daniel Templon for a Gregory Crewdson photo exhibition, and then to Angelina for hot chocolate and pastries. Kiele, Rachael, and Sophie went to get tattoos, and Steph and I walked back in the rain to the hotel to nap until they came back. Dinner was late night asain food and drinks at a café near the hotel before passing out again.

Friday began with a field trip to Idem Press (David Lynch’s favorite print shop, with several ancient printing presses and amazing print masters), followed by a sprint to the Reebok Crossfit Louvre with Rachael for an 11:30 WOD with Coach Pierre. The box was really cool and working out with a bunch of jacked french guys is comical. We stopped for lunch afterward, did a little shopping (bought Parisian blanket scarves), picked up Chipotle for the train ride home, took the metro to Trocadéro, snapped some pictures, met up with Steph, took the metro to Berthillon for the best ice cream in Paris, walked back to the hotel to pick up our bags, ubered to the train station, sat around for an hour at the train station, boarded the train, half-slept through the three our train ride and hour bus ride back to Lacoste, dragged our bags up the hill, showered, and passed out until about 10:00am this morning….

It feels like I’ve walked about 50 miles over the past week, my feet are tired, my shoulders are sore, and my back is aching, but I couldn’t feel happier/more grateful about the experiences I got to have this week in Paris… I had such a wonderful time and I’m already thinking about the next time I can go back…

So here’s to the second half of this quarter in France… Let’s hope I can get all my work done and wrap up the quarter feeling just as happy and thankful as when I got here.